Democratic Policy Making with Real-Time Agenda Setting: Part 1 / B. Douglas Bernheim, Antonio Rangel, Luis Rayo.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bernheim, B. Douglas.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Rangel, Antonio.

Rayo, Luis.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w8973.

NBER working paper series no. w8973

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Democratic Policy Making with Real-Time Agenda Setting

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2002.

Summary:

We examine democratic policy-making in a simple institution with real-time agenda setting. Individuals are recognized sequentially. Once recognized, an individual makes a proposal, which is immediately put to a vote. If a proposal passes, it supercedes all previously passed proposals. The policy that emerges from this process is implemented. For some familiar classes of policy spaces with rich distributional politics, we show that the last proposer is effectively a dictator under a variety of natural conditions. Most notably, this occurs whenever a sufficient number of individuals have opportunities to make proposals. Thus, under reasonably general assumptions, control of the final proposal with real-time agenda setting confers as much power as control of the entire agenda.

Notes:

Print version record

May 2002.